324 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



which may be produced per acre of beets and tur- 

 nips, I am unable to state ; but my impression is, 

 that, under equally favorable circumstances, there 

 would be no very great difference in the weight of 

 the several crops. But when it is considered that 

 the beet is by far the surest crop, that it contains 

 at least an equal quantity of nutriment, and that it 

 may be raised with less manure and less labor, it 

 seems to me that it is beyond question the best 

 root crop for stock. E. c. P. 



Somerville, August, 1863. 



LETTER FBOM MR. BROWN. 



Provincetown a Queer Place — A Companion — Major Phinnej'— 

 A Ball and Two Girls — A Boat Ride and Cranberry Planta-- 

 tions — Towns on the Way — Highland Lights — A Funereal Foi- 

 est — Wild Cranberries — Plowing tlie Sea— A Splendid Morning 

 — Scenery — An Old Wind Mill — Young Pine Forests — How the 

 Seed was Sown — A Street in Provincetown — Front Yards — 

 Town House — Wreck of tlie Caledonia — The Pilgrim Fathers, 

 and the First Com They Found — Places Recognized — Seasick- 

 ness. 



Provincetoion, Mass,, Aug. 31, 1863. 



Gentlemen : — This is a queer place ; it seems 

 to be made up of the sifting of the sea, thrown up 

 from its depth in its hours of agitation, roused in- 

 to terrible activity by successive days of east wind, 

 rushing unobstructedly over the almost illimitable 

 sea. 



But, how did you get there, you may ask ? I 

 will tell you. Tired and almost discouraged in the 

 effort to "make hay," I concluded I would leave it 

 to other hands for awhile, and take a trip to this 

 unique portion of our good State — the only por- 

 tion which I had not visited. So, in the compa- 

 ny of an excellent friend, Albert Stacy, Esq., 

 the faithful and obliging Postmaster of our town, 

 I proceeded, and made Barnstable the first halting 

 place. Calling upon brother PlllNNEY, Editor of 

 the Barnstable Patriot, after tea, I found himself, 

 family and friends just leaving the house to attend 

 a ball at Agricultural Hall, the proceeds of which 

 were to be devoted to a Soldier^s Aid Societt/, of 

 which Mrs. Piiinney is the efficient President. 

 I bad no scruples about the mode vt'hich they had 

 adopted to raise their funds, and hurriedly sum- 

 ming up the probable cost of my trip, found I had 

 a surplus which I could devote to no better ob- 

 ject. As I could not become a hero, by 



"Shouldering my crutch and telling how 

 fields were won," 



I offered my dexter arm to a charming young la- 

 dy in the group, and led the way to the revellers ! 

 When we arrived, bright lights and brighter eyes 

 were flashing, and youth, and middle life, and even 

 some in years beyond, were 



'•On the light, fantastic toe," 

 tripping gaily to the inspiring music of the band ! 

 My younger companion, not much better versed 

 in the wars of Cupid than of Mars, rather demurred 

 at the bold push, and spoke of dusty boots, rusty 

 gloves, and other rigging, but the nymph at his 

 side soon drove all these follies out of his head. 

 All the world was there. The feast and the fun 



were excellent, and the clock had struck so many 

 times while we were there, that it wovild only 

 strike once when we departed ! 



The next morning our researches were more of 

 an agricidtural nature, though we were not in Ag- 

 ricultural Hall. The courtesy of the Major had 

 not been exhausted by introducing us to the fes- 

 tivities of the evening, for before our coffee had 

 been swallowed, he appeared and announced that 

 his yacht was ready to take us across the bay to 

 look at his cranberry plantations. The trip was 

 soon made, and we were among the sand hills and 

 the cranberries. With others, he has been exper- 

 imenting in the culture of this delicious fruit, for 

 several years. To describe the modes adopted 

 would require an article too formal and too long 

 for this familiar letter. He has entered upon the 

 cultivation extensively, and with every prospect of 

 success. I examined several plantations, and found 

 them in the most encouraging condition. At a 

 future time I will describe some of the processes 

 pursued, and the results obtained. 



Proceeding to Yarmouth by rail, we took the 

 stage to Orleans, dined, and continued on to Well- 

 fleet, where we halted for the night. This town 

 extends across the Cape, between Eastham and 

 Truro. The village is a small one on the west 

 side of the Cape, and its people are mostly en- 

 gaged in the fishing business. It was formerly 

 a very flourishing town. One of its former resi- 

 dents. Col. Elisha Doane, is said to have ac- 

 quired a fortune of $600,000, on this sandy spot. 



The ride to Highland Lights, six miles south of 

 Provincetown, the next morning, was over a san- 

 dy road, and for miles in succession, through a 

 yellow pine forest, mingled with shrub oaks. Both 

 were hung with a drapery of gray moss which im- 

 parted a gloomy and funereal appearance. Hun- 

 dreds of acres were covered wiih the wild, or 

 mountain cranberry. The open places afforded 

 but little grass, and I saw but few cattle between 

 Yarmouth and the end of the Cape, or fields of 

 grass, corn or grain of any kind. There were oc- 

 casional patches of each, whose products must be 

 trifling compared with the wants of the population 

 of the Cape towns. They are not, evidently, an 

 agricultural people. They plough the sea, more 

 than the land. 



To us, "Highland Light" proved the most at- 

 tractive spot we found. It is on the extreme verge 

 of land, ending in a precipice or bluff, of nearly a 

 hundred feet in height. The light-house is erect- 

 ed near its edge, and with the Cape Race Lights, 

 farther down the Cape, are the lights first seen by 

 the mariner on approaching our dangerous coast. 

 Going out at six o'clock the day after my arrival, 

 I found the morning as beautiful as ever shone 

 upon the earth. A shower during the night had 

 washed the plants, so that thtii* foliage looked as 



